IEEE is one of the largest organisers of research conferences in the world. They sponsor approximately 1400 conferences every year, and have created a fantastic video on why conferences matter. Video courtesy of IEEE.tv The conference setting is essentially the social platform for researchers. Researchers spend most of their time working behind a computer screen,…

With the huge growth of technology in the past 10 years, almost everything has an online equivalent. You can order your dinner, pay a bill or even talk to friends online. Conferences are no different. There are countless benefits to publishing online. We have outlined some of these below. Reduce costs Online proceedings can increase the…

When organising a large conference, a Chair will usually have a committee to help them with some of the day-to-day tasks. As committee members may be spread across a State or country, it is not always viable for everyone to meet at one particular location. This has increased the popularity of conference calls. A conference…

In our recent posts, we have discussed both what’s involved in both double-blind peer review and open reviewing. The third, and so far most common, form of reviewing is the single-blind peer review. A single-blind peer review keeps the identity of the reviewer anonymous, but the authors name and affiliation are on the paper. Like the other forms…

There are many different conferences happening all over the world in your sector – the problem from a delegate’s point of view is which one to choose to attend. They want to attend the one that will give them the most “bang for their buck” and have the perfect conference environment. You (as Chair) don’t…

Peer reviewing is used in conferences around the world. There are three types of reviewing commonly carried out in a conference setting; open reviewing, single-blind peer review and double-blind. In this post, we will discuss the elements of double-blind peer review. Double-blind peer review is when the identity of both the author and reviewer is…

The role of reviewing is to help the conference Chairs decide on whether to accept or reject papers or abstracts. Up to now, the most common forms of reviewing has been the single or double-blind review, where the authors don’t know who the reviewers are. However, the idea of using an open peer review system…

“There is no such thing as presentation talent, it is called Presentation Skills” David JP Phillips. Presenting at a conference is no different to any other presentation – you need to be well prepared, consistent throughout and ensure you are able to resonate effectively with your audience. The good news is the techniques of an effective…

Over the past couple of weeks a number of people have got in touch with The Conference Mentor looking for advice on how to write an abstract for a conference. When preparing an abstract for a conference, there are a number of factors you need to take into consideration to increase the chances of acceptance. First…

Reviewers are a key component in a successful conference. Without a panel of reviewers willing to give up their time voluntarily, a conference would not be able to function. The best reviewers are the experts in a particular field with years of research under their belts. But where does the next generation of reviewers come from?…